Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has warned federal civil servants against flouting the workplace guidelines put in place to flatten the curve of coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, in a circular she personally signed and titled “Need for Strict Compliance with the Directives and Advice on the COVID-19 Pandemic Preventive Measures”, reminded the workers of two previous circulars in March and April 2020, issued on the measures to guide against further spread of the current COVID-19, which included limiting the number of visitors to offices.
“The attention of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation has been drawn to the fact that these guidelines are not being complied with. Specifically, it has been noticed that, the flow of both the staff and visitors to offices is very high which, sadly, indicates that the directives in the circulars in reference, are being observed in breach.
“It has therefore, become very important to reiterate that only officers on GL14 and above; and officers performing essential services, are to report for duty. As much as possible, other categories of officers should be encouraged to work from home.
“Security operatives at the gates should be directed to demand for the identity card of staff coming to the office to ensure that they are on GL 14 and above, while the list of those performing essential services but are below level GL14 should be sent to the gates for clearance,” Yemi-Esan said.
The Head of Service added that officers are strongly advised to limit, to the barest minimum, the number of visitors they receive; while the Permanent Secretaries/Chief Executive Officers are to reduce the number of physical meetings in the MDAs to the barest minimum and hold virtual meetings.
Yemi-Esan said that to streamline the conduct of virtual meetings, here office is working with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to come up with policy guideline which will be issued soon on such meetings.